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The very first commercial screening of motion pictures took place on December 28, 1895 at the Grand Café in Paris. That’s where the Lumière brothers hosted a showing of ten of their short films. While the room had been set up for 100 attendees, less than 30 moviegoers — the first 30 moviegoers ever! — showed up to watch the demonstration of the Lumieres’ cinematograph.
The event was advertised with a beautiful poster by French artist Henri Brispot — which means that at the precise moment when the movies were invented, movie posters were invented too. One of Brispot’s posters for the Lumières’ debut went up for auction in 2018 at Sotheby’s in London. And while it sold for quite a bit of money, that poster is not one of the most valuable in history — or at least there are quite a few that have sold at auction for way more money than that one did.
The list of 20 posters below all sold at auction in recent years for exorbitant, six-figure prices. There are definitely some similarities among the films on the list: Most are around 100 years old, most are for classics of Hollywood’s Golden Age. They’re generally among the most famous American films ever made — although one is relatively obscure among the general public. (It is famous to film fans as the very first pairing of one of the most iconic onscreen duos in history.) In all but one or two cases, the prices listed come from Heritage Auctions, a dealer in all sorts of collectibles — including high-end movie posters.
The Most Valuable Movie Posters
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